Artifex, tell me a story
Artifex Mundi is a video game publisher and development studio based in Warsaw, Poland. Founded in 2011, it specializes in creating adventure and puzzle games. Here, we will follow the adventures of Dawn, a great monster hunter who will once again have to save the world from an imminent arrival of monstrous dangers. For this, you will have to explore, collect, assemble and manufacture a whole bunch of objects to open, force, explode the obstacles in your path.
Well done Artifex!
In this chapter, we appreciate the correct translation of almost all the items. Some previous chapters were strewn with bad information due to a very rough translation. Here, we have a crossword game that is called “enigma” but nothing too bad. Another common complaint made to the Artifex Mundi: the drooling, fuzzy, in short, ugly drawings, which made the “seek and find” games really painful. Once again, this chapter remains very clean, the drawings are clear, the contours have not taken on water and we take pleasure in looking at the details.
We obviously find a “handmade” style with animation scenes of a particular kind… sometimes it’s nice, often it’s ugly; we think in particular of the last scene with the policeman which is far from being a success. Bright colors, faces like modeling clay, it’s a bit garish as a graphic touch.
And on the puzzle side?
Regarding the mini-games, we always benefit from a great diversity: “seek and find”, “look for shadows”, and little new ones which refresh the formula and allow you to savor this episode. Among these additions, we appreciated a simple but nice mini-game: put back in their place pieces that will articulate at the end to make a key element fall. We also note the presence of a fairly successful mini Cluedo. The rest is up to you. Finally, we find a mess of locks to open, but we do not choose an Artifex Mundi to get out of this universe of logic and puzzles.
In terms of playing time, it took us three and a half hours to overcome it. It’s obviously easier when you know the logic of the studio’s old productions. Two levels of difficulty are proposed: Easy (with clues on the places of action and in the progression of the story and Hard (without any clues). The Intermediate level, which existed a few years ago, has this time been removed. Despite everything, we are always happy to come across an Artifex Mundi game. A bit like the cake box at grandparents’, it’s not the pinnacle of French pastry but we still savor the moment .
Tested on Xbox Series X
